The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful
Someone has (needlessly) demanded to experience the torment (of God), 1 (a chastisement meant) for the unbelievers, one which none can avert; 2 a chastisement from Allah, the Lord of the ascending steps, 3 To whom the angels and the soul take a day to ascend, whose length is fifty thousand years. 4 So be thou patient with a sweet patience; 5 they see it as being far off; 6 And We behold it nigh. 7 [It will take place] on a Day when the sky will be like molten lead, 8 and the mountains shall be as plucked wool-tufts, 9 And no friend will ask [anything of] a friend, 10 They will be shown each other. The criminal will wish that he could be ransomed from the punishment of that Day by his children 11 his companion wife, his brother, 12 and of all the kinsfolk who ever sheltered him, 13 and whosoever is in the earth, altogether, so that it might save him. 14 Nay, verily it is a furnace 15 A fire that melts the hide. 16 Calling: "[O Kafir (O disbeliever in Allah, His angels, His Book, His Messengers, Day of Resurrection and in Al-Qadar (Divine Preordainments), O Mushrik (O polytheist, disbeliever in the Oneness of Allah)] (all) such as turn their backs and turn away their faces (from Faith) [picking and swallowing them up from that great gathering of mankind (on the Day of Resurrection) just as a bird picks up a food-grain from the earth with its beak and swallows it up] [Tafsir Al-Qurtubi, Vol. 18, Page 289] 17 and amassed (riches) and hoarded. 18 ۞ VERILY, man is born with a restless disposition. 19 [As a rule,] whenever misfortune touches him, he is filled with self-pity; 20 And when good touches him, withholding [of it], 21 save those that pray 22 Who are at their prayer constant. 23 And those in whose wealth is a recognised right. 24 for such as ask [for help] and such as are deprived [of what is good in life]; 25 And those who hold to the truth of the Day of Judgment; 26 and who stand in dread of their Sustainer's chastisement 27 Indeed, the punishment of their Lord is not that from which one is safe - 28 those who preserve their chastity 29 except from their spouses and those whom they rightfully possess [through wedlock], for which they incur no blame -- 30 But those who trespass beyond this are transgressors;- 31 And those who respect their trusts and covenants; 32 And those who stand by their testimony 33 And those who guard their Salat (prayers) well. 34 They will be in gardens, honored. 35